Lok Sabha polls: Congress releases 5th list; fields Pranab Mukherjee's son from Jangipur

The Congress Party on Monday released its fifth list of 56 candidates including former President Pranab Mukherjee's son and sitting MP Abhijeet Mukherjee from West Bengal's Jangipur Lok Sabha seat, and former Union Minister MM Pallam Raju from Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada seat.

Out of 56 candidates, 22 are from Andhra Pradesh, five from Assam, six from Odisha, eight from Telangana, two from Uttar Pradesh, 11 from West Bengal and 1 from Lakshadweep.

So far, the Congress has declared 137 candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, which will be held in seven phases beginning April 11.

The last phase of polling is scheduled for May 19 and the counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Other than Raju, the 21 other candidates who will contest from Andhra Pradesh include, Shruti V. Devi (Araku), Dola Jaganmohan Rao (Srikakulam), Yedla Adiraju (Vizianagaram), Sreeram Murthy (Anakapalle), Janga Gowtham (Amalapuram), Nalluri Vijaya Srinivasa Rao (Rajahmundry), Kanumuri Bapurajau (Narsapuram), Jetti Gurunadho Rao (Eluru), Gollu Krishna (Machilipatnam), Shaik Mastan Valu (Guntur), Pakkala Suribabu (Narasdaraopet), Jesudasu Seelam (Bapatla), SDJM Prasad (Ongole), Ahmed Ali Khan (Kurnool), Kuncham Rajeev Reddy (Anantapur), KT Sreedhar (Hindpur), Gundlakunta Sreeramulu (Kadapa), Chevuru Devakumar Reddy (Nellore), Chinta Mohan (Tirupati) and Mohd Shahjahan Basha (Rajampet).

Voting for all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh shall take place on April 11 in a single phase along with the Assembly polls.

Among those contesting from Telangana include Madhu Yashki Goud from Telangana's Nizamabad, M. Anjan Kumar Yadav from Secunderabad, Firoz Khan from Hyderabad, Dr CH Vamshichand Reddy from Mahbubnagar, Dr Mallu Ravi from Nagarkurnool, N Uttam Kumar Reddy from Nalgonda, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy from Bhongir, and Dommati Sambaiah from Warangal.

All 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana will go to polls in a single phase on April 11, which is also the first phase of Lok Sabha elections.

In Assam, the Congress has fielded Dr Cheemala Rangappa (Autonomous), Bhubaneswar Kalita (Mangaldoi), MGVK Bhanu (Tezpur), Pradyut Bordoloi (Nowgong) and Anil Borgohain (Lakhimpur).

Pradeep Kumar Devta (Bargarh), George Tirkey (Sundargarh), Bhakta Charan Das (Kalahandi), Pradeep Majhi (Nabarangpur), Manoj Kumar Acharya (Kandhamal) and V Chandrasekhar Naidu (Berhampur) are the six candidates who will contest on Parliamentary constituency from Odisha.

The Lok Sabha and Assembly polls will be held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases, beginning from April 11.

The last phase of polling in Odisha, which has 21 Lok Sabha seats and 147 Assembly seats at stake, will take place on April 29.

Congress' Harendra Agarwal, Dolly Sharma and Bansi Lal Pahadia will contest from the three major seats Meerut, Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr, respectively, in Uttar Pradesh where 80 Lok Sabha are seats are at stake.

Voting will take place in this state during all seven phases - from April 11 to May 19.

The 10 candidates for West Bengal, other than Abhijit Mukherjee, include Priya Roy Chowdhury from Coochbehar, Mohan Lal Basumata from Alipurduars, Mani Kumar Sarnal from Jalpaiguri, Shankar Malakar from Darjeeling, Deepa Dashmunshi from Raiganj, Sadik Sarkar from Balurghat, Isha Khan Chowdhary from Maldaha Uttar, Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury from Maldaha Dakshin, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Baharampur and Abhu Neha from Murshidabad.

M. Hamdullah Sayeed will contest from Lakshadweep which has only one Lok Sabha constituency. Voters in Lakshadweep will cast their vote on April 11.

The fifth list was declared after a meeting of the Congress Central Election Committee (CCE) chaired by party chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday.

The Congress party released its first list on March 7, declaring the candidature of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli and Congress president Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. The list of 15 candidates included 11 from Uttar Pradesh and four from Gujarat.